Monday Morning eBriefing

APHIS confirms that there will be no more delays in implementing the APHIS-Core Message Set in ACE. Beginning January 25, all APHIS-flagged products must have a Message Set or a valid disclaimer filed in ACE.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants members of the import community who deal in FDA-regulated articles to use its Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS) for current entry status and to receive "Notices of FDA Action" electronically.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome the following member who has recently joined our association:

Long-time Brownsville, Texas customs broker, Alfred Antonio "Al" Roser, died on Jan. 1. He was 99 years old. Alfred and his wife Nena, also a licensed customs broker license who proceeded him in death, owned and operated Roser Import & Export Company and later Roser Customs Service, Inc., which is still in operation. Mr. Roser is survived by two sons Alfred "Neto" and Fredric "Rico" Roser, both of whom are NCBFAA members, and their families.

We are all facing extreme challenges during COVID and many of our clients may not understand just what we do for them, even blaming us for delays and extra charges.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has suspended the tariff action in the Section 301 investigation of France's Digital Services Tax (DST). The additional tariffs in the amount of 25% on certain products of France were announced in July 2020 and were scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 6.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is ready to implement the next expanded rollout of its 1USG Notification Messaging for Imports. This latest rollout will include 14 filers covering approximately 40% of imports regulated by CPSC.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a Jan. 7 Federal Register notice that it will delay deployment for the expanded zone identification number modifications to the electronic Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) admission applications test in ACE to April 25.

TQL Global, LLC, subsidiary of Total Quality Logistics, the 2nd largest 3PL in the US, is looking for an outside consultant to assist with Ocean Transportation Intermediary operations. If you have any interest in connecting please reach out to patrick.behan@tqlglobal.com.

The NCBFAA reminds our members that we have published two Export Compliance documents to assist the freight forwarding community in guiding our export customers.

The U.S. Commerce Department recently announced the creation of the Aluminum Import Monitoring Analysis (AIM) system to enable Commerce and the public to better detect potential transshipment and circumvention involving imported aluminum products.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has notified customs brokers and the trade community that most imports of aluminum products will require an aluminum import license for each entry starting Jan. 25.

The NCBFAA on Dec. 28 responded to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recent proposal to pursue mandatory continuing education for licensed customs brokers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Dec. 29 announced the Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2009 which contains 21,982 ABI records and 3,954 harmonized tariff records.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reminded customs brokers and their importer clients about updates to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) with the Dec. 27 passage into law of the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

The NCBFAA on Dec. 28 responded to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recent proposal to pursue mandatory continuing education for licensed customs brokers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), following the passage of the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act, reminded importers and their customs brokers that effective Jan. 1 it will maintain oversight of imports impacted by the Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA).

Further to the Dec. 28 Monday Morning eBriefing article, "End-of-year BIS rules impact Hong Kong, China exports," the U.S. Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division released a message (attached here) to the trade regarding the Electronic Export Information (EEI) filings for Hong Kong.

The NCBFAA Transportation Committee’s Logistics Subcommittee is regularly collecting data on the nation’s rail delays and port congestion that are impacting the supply chain and your business operations.

It was one year ago this week that the Customs Business Fairness Act (CBFA) was included in the December 2020 stimulus package. This gave customs brokers much needed relief from the 90-day claw back when an importer files bankruptcy.